Nearly 20 year ago, a vile, racist, career thug named Roland James Smith entered a Jewish owned store, named Freddy’s Fashion Mart, on 125th Street in Harlem, pulled a gun, ordered all the black customers out of the store, spilled paint thinner on several bins of clothing, then set them on fire – a blaze that resulted in killing 7 people plus Smith. The only African-American left in the story was Freddy’s security guard Kareem Brunner, 22-years-old, who was ordered to stay by the mass murderer Smith.
In a previous court affidavit, by Kareem Brunner, the black security guard killed in the fire, Mr. Brunner said that he’d been called a “cracker lover” and that “I would get mine as a traitor [to the black race].” Brunner, was the only black that Smith held in the store before setting it on fire.
In court papers filed just the day before the fire, Fred Harari, the owner of Freddy’s Fashion Mart, and two employees described weeks of protests outside the clothing store. They recounted that Al Sharpton’s National Action Network set up picket lines and that customers going into Freddy’s were spat on and cursed at, called “traitors” and “Uncle Toms.” Some protesters shouted, “Burn down the Jew store!” and simulate striking a match. “We’re going to see that this cracker suffers,” said Sharpton’s colleague Morris Powell.
Interestingly enough, it was Al Sharpton who was the actual “interloper,” having lived in Hollis Queens around the time Freddy’s opened in Harlem and living in New Jersey when Freddy’s was burned down. When other white-owned businesses fled the neighborhood as the population became more African-American, Fred Harari the owner of Freddy’s continued to serve that neighborhood.
But it’s the background of that dispute that shows how corrosive a black bigotry that Sharpton and his associates (yes, ALL of his associates) deal in.
According to the Jewish Post; “Ironically, although the picketers had characterized the conflict as a racial, almost all the issues involved were economic - and indirectly caused by federal intervention to improve Harlem! Last year when Harlem was included as part of a new Federal Empowerment Zone, more than $300 million in Federal, state and city funds was slated to flow into Harlem. To prepare for this expansion, the city removed scores of illegal street vendors to side streets, saying they clogged the sidewalks. Morris Powell, head of the 125th Street Vendor's Association, and Roland Smith, one of the street vendors, bitterly opposed the move. Mr. Shange, the owner of the Record Shack, was not involved in the protests - in fact, he had been known to threaten with a machete street vendors who sold bootlegged tapes, saying that they were hurting his business.
“Another effect of the anticipated improvement in Harlem was the dislocation of many long-established stores by landlords looking to replace their tenants whose leases had expired with higher-paying tenants. The property at 276 West 125th Street, next door to Freddy's, was rented for over 30 years by Windsor Drugs, owned by Irving Katz. Mr. Katz, who had a 10-year lease with the United House of Prayer for All People church, was told in July 1993 that his lease would not be renewed and he had to leave in 60 days. The church is a black Pentecostal church based in Washington, and founded by Bishop C. M. ("Sweet Daddy") Grace in the 1920's, is one of the largest landlords on 125th Street.
“The New York Times reported that at first Mr. Katz thought that the decision was racially motivated, since he is white, but that he concluded that "it was just a question of money" since the church had refused to renew the leases for the black-owned Pace shoe-repair shop and a tennis clinic. Mr. Katz said that it's ironic that Mr. Shange went to the Vendor's Association for help since, "Shange was well known to tip over the peddlers' tables and to refuse to let them set up in front of his store." Mr. Katz said Shange's troubles went far beyond his dispute with Freddy's. "The record store across the street, Bobby's Record World [which is black-owned], had been taking away all of his business." Newspaper reports describe Mr. Shange's store as dusty and very poor-looking.
“The church also owns 272 West 125th Street, site of the fire. It recently began a $4.5 million renovation of the building. Mr. Katz said "They were looking to kick out any businesses that were in the way of the renovation, that looked crummy, or that weren't paying as much rent as they felt could be earned. Kentucky Fried Chicken - a high-rent-payer - was forced out so they could build an entrance facing 125th Street. The Jewish-owned meat market lost their lease, and their space was given to Freddy's." Mr. Katz said that "Shange was in our store every day" and had always been outwardly polite. He said that the "real villain here was the church's real-estate broker, Malcolm Barksdale [who is black]. I can imagine how he must have pressured Shange. I was a good tenant. I paid my rent on the first of the month, every month for 30 years. Yet, when Barksdale came to see me about terminating my lease, he was very arrogant and rude. He treated me like ape-s---, and you can quote me on that." (http://www.jewishpost.com/…/massacre-at-freddys-in-harlem-f…)
There are few examples of a more blatant and vile form of race hatred than that.
The FACT is that Al Sharpton and his minions used a landlord-tenant dispute between Malcolm Barksdale, the black Broker/Representative of the owner of that property for the United House of Prayer for All People – a black church, and Sikhulu Shange the black owner of “The Record Shack,” into an attack on a Jewish merchant (Fred Harari), who’d been there longer than most of the other businesses on that block.
The reason why Sharpton’s blatant bigotry is so vital to keep in mind is that it speaks volumes about all the so-called “legitimate” political operatives that have befriended him, from Barack Obama and Bill DeBlasio to Eric Holder and Phil Griffin...the President of MSNBC, NOT the fat, cartoon TV Dad of Family Guy, though they do bear a striking resemblance.
ALL of those so-called “legitimate” associates provide cover for Sharpton’s racial jihad, something they all directly benefit from as Leftist political operatives who use racial strife and grievances to advance increasing political power for themselves and their cronies.
Those who associate with Al Sharpton are as culpable as he is in spreading race hatred.
